Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 5:
Continue reading “WEEK 5 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Odessa High-Cooper football (76 images)”
Santo Santo 48, Roscoe 0 — DIllan Branham ran for 122 yards and two touchdowns and Rylan Griffith passed for 121 yards and one TD and ran for another score to lead the Wildcats to a shutout win over the Plowboys.
Erik Montes, Colt Bridges and Jaxon Rice also had rushing scores for Santo, while River Lewis hauled in a 50-yard touchdown pass.
Mason 62, Junction 8 — The Punchers stayed unbeaten with a blowout win over the Eagles, dominating a quality junction squad from start to finish.
Mason cruised to a 41-0 lead by halftime and coasted from there, tacking three more touchdowns before the clock hit zero.
Ballinger 40, Brady 35 — Wyatt Clemens passed for 300 yards and six touchdowns, hitting Hunter Kresta eight times for 186 yards and four of those scores to lead the Bearcats to a thrilling win over the Bulldogs in a rivalry game.
Kresta had TD catches of 12, 3, 43 and 80 yards to help Ballinger (3-1) rally from a 28-21 halftime deficit to claim the victory.
Santo 48, Roscoe 0 — Santo raced out to a 41-0 halftime lead before putting things into cruise control.
The Wildcats improved to 3-1 after outgaining Roscoe 451-128. Dillan Branham led Santo with 122 yards and two scores on only four carries.
The Plowboys fell to 0-4.
Comanche 21, Clifton 14 — Zaden Tello ran for 108 yards and all three of the Indians touchdowns to lead Comanche (2-2, 1-0) to a big district-opening win over the Cubs.
Tello also had a team-high 44 yards receiving as the Indians stretched a 7-0 halftime lead to 14-0 by the end of the third quarter and held off a Clifton rally in the fourth.
Graham 64, Brownwood 9 — Brownwood’s inexplicable slide continues with its second straight lopsided loss after nearly upsetting top-ranked Stephenville two weeks ago.
Graham rolled up 643 yards in total offense, including 330 through the air to improve to 4-0.
Stanton 28, Iraan 26 — Mason Martinez ran for 94 yards and a touchdown and Jayden Hinojosa threw a 65-yard scoring pass to fuel the Buffaloes to an upset win over the Braves on Iraan’s homecoming.
Hagan Hale added 92 yards rushing, and Luis Anaya and Josiah Hall each added scoring runs for Stanton, which ran for 274 of its 339 total yards.
Wall 51, Ozona 6 — Gunner King, the area’s second-leading passer entering Week 4, regained the top spot with 337 yards and five touchdowns in a blowout win over the Lions.
The senior QB also ran for 60 yards and a score, while Jager Thompson received for 110 yards and a TD and Gunner Garza added 78 yards and a score on the ground.
Anson 48, Haskell 44 — Haskell (2-2) was involved in its fourth straight shootout, this time falling a bit short.
To date, the Indians have yet to score fewer than 44 points in a game and have yet to allow fewer than 42.
Anson leveled off at 2-2 with the win.
Glen Rose 42, China Spring 39 — Judd Connally rushed for 235 yards and three TDs and threw for 216 yards and another score as Glen Rose (3-1) outlasted China Spring (1-3).
The Cougars have now dropped three straight games, despite scoring 99 points in that span.
Graham 64, Brownwood 9 — Cooper Corley passed for 367 yards and a pair of touchdowns while running for 125 yards and four more scores to lead the Steers to a lopsided win over the Lions.
Behind the dual-threat quarterback and the receiving trio of Brodie Martin (3-103), Bryce Martin (4-92) and Parker Hale (4-78, 1 TD), Graham (4-0) piled up 692 yards of total offense in the victory.
Seymour 52, Shamrock 8 — The Panthers leveled off at 2-2 with a lopsided win at Shamrock.
Keaton Anderson threw for 181 yards and three scores and Demarcus Smith rushed for 75 yards and another TD to lead Seymour.
Jarrell 49, Austin Eastside Memorial 6 — JHS had an easy time with Eastside, blowing the game open with a 35-6 first half before coasting the rest of the way.
The Cougars (4-0) remain unbeaten, but their opposition thus far is a combined 1-14.
Eastside fell to 0-4.
Snyder 8, Andrews 3 — The Tigers broke through for their first victory of the season, winning a defensive slugfest on homecoming to snap a 21-game losing streak dating back to Sept. 6, 2024.
Trailing 3-0 after allowing a field goal early in the second quarter, coach Anthony Gonzales’ Tigers (1-3) responded with eight unanswered points to take an 8-3 lead into halftime that would stand the rest of the way.
Stamford 27, Cisco 7 — The Bulldogs stunned Cisco with a 21-0 second quarter and then held on to get the win on the road.
Christopher McCan rushed for 110 yards, including a 90-yard TD run in the third quarter, and miles Follis threw for 216 yards and two scores to lead the Bulldogs (2-2).
Cisco (2-2) was led by Colby McElroy, who rushed for 145 yards and threw for 117
HAWLEY —There was nothing cute about Early’s 21-14 win over Hawley in Friday’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week at Forrest Field. It was largely a two-man game in the EHS backfield with one zone read play after another between quarterback Caden Wilson and running back Isaac Ibarra.
This, backed by a sturdy Longhorn defense which limited Hawley to only two scores, lifted Early to a 4-0 record on the year in a physical game spent largely in the trenches.
Ibarra rushed for 103 yards and two scores, Wilson rushed for 55 and threw for 80 and the EHS defense forced two key turnovers to keep the ‘Horns unbeaten.
Hawley (2-2) was led by Jagger Wiley with 150 yards passing and one TD and Brycen Stofel, with 103 yards rushing and one score.
The Stephenville football team trailed Wylie midway through the second quarter and led by just five (21-16) after three quarters of play on Friday at Hugh Sandifer Stadium. But strong finishes to both halves allowed the Yellow Jackets to pull away for a 42-23 win in front of a packed homecoming crowd.
The Yellow Jackets scored 14 points in the last five minutes of the second quarter to go to halftime up 21-10 and outscored the Bulldogs 21-7 in the final period to turn a one-score game into a three-touchdown win.
Wylie passed for 301 yards on its way to 400 yards of total offense. But the Stephenville defense allowed just 16 points on five trips inside its own 25-yard line, stopping a fake field goal attempt late in the first half and intercepting a pass in the end zone in the fourth quarter to allow the offense to create some separation with an efficient, workmanlike effort.
Photos by Kael Duncan
BOWIE – Fifth-ranked Jacksboro looked the part Friday night as the Tigers spoiled Bowie’s homecoming with a 70-34 rout at Jackrabbit Stadium.
The Tigers showcased their offensive versatility in improving to 4-0, amassing 668 total yards against a Bowie defense that had only surrendered 20 points in its first three victories.
And the way Jacksboro attacked the Jackrabbits was most impressive. Sophomore running back Ryder Davis racked up 270 rushing yards and four touchdowns, while quarterback Hoytt Wesson added 140 on the ground.
Wesson also threw for 210 yards and four scores as Travis Mitchell hauled in two touchdowns while Kase Dennis and Padun Seaberry also found the end zone.
Photos by Terry Thompson
GOLDTHWAITE — It wasn’t so surprising that the Goldthwaite Eagles beat the De Leon Bearcats 24-13 on Friday night at Gary Proffitt Stadium. Both teams came in 3-0 and were expecting their toughest test of the young football season.
But it was surprising that Goldthwaite’s defense limited De Leon’s high-flying offense to 13 points and 305 total yards. The Bearcats came in averaging 46 points and 450 yards per game.
Cooper football coach Scott Stewart had to wait until the fourth week of the season for his home coaching debut — but his squad made sure that he picked up the win in pretty dominating fashion on Friday night.
The Cougar offense held the ball for over 30 minutes of action and ran for 364 yards on 48 carries, getting rushing scores from four players as CHS picked up a 34-14 win to close out nondistrict play with a 2-2 record.
“An old coach once told me that you want to keep the offense sweaty and the defense dry,” Stewart said. “We had some sustained drives and tired their defense out, and ours was ready to go when they came out.”
With a full season of starting experience under his belt, Wylie quarterback Jadin Karleskint entered his senior year with high expectations — both for himself and from those around him.
Tabbed as a team captain and the undisputed leader of the Bulldogs offense, the talented signal caller came into this season looking — and being leaned upon — to improve on junior campaign that saw him complete 124 of 176 passes for 1,572 yards and 15 touchdowns in leading WHS to a 5-5 record.
While the season started with some frustration in a 13-7 home loss to Brownwood in which the Bulldogs failed to score a point in four red zone trips, Karleskint and his Wylie cohorts have been delivering on their substantial potential since, rebounding from that season-opening setback to blast Lubbock Monterey 49-3 before downing Wolfforth Frenship 28-21 in a game that wasn’t nearly as competitive as the final score might indicate.
And Karleskint has been right in the center of the team’s success, playing at a high enough level to sit fourth in the Big Country Preps coverage area in passing yards (755) and seventh in passing touchdowns (8) as Wylie (2-1) gets set to host area rival and defending state champion Stephenville (3-0) on Friday for homecoming.
Even if you’re a fervent follower of Big Country football (the tipoff being that you consider Wednesday a holiday because that’s when you can peruse the stats for all the area leaders), you might not be aware of the following:
Don’t bother looking for his name in this week’s statistical roundup. It won’t be there. No matter; after reading this story, regardless of your conventional rooting tendencies, the Santo Wildcats will almost certainly join your roster of favorite teams.
And Branham will definitely become one of your favorite players.
Here’s why …
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games and select six-man games, in addition to the results of our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
LAST WEEK: 55-14, .794
SEASON TOTAL: 165-48, .774
The Early Longhorn have quietly stayed under the radar while posting a 3-0 record thus far, notching wins over Merkel, Breckenridge and Ballinger — the last two of which were quite convincing with scores of 47-18 and 34-0.
The secret is out, the Longhorns are good.
But in this week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week, not only will Early face its most challenging test thus far at Hawley, but it will likely go into the matchup as a slight underdog.
At this stage, Hawley has faced a tougher overall schedule, but the Bearcats are at home and they’re more accustomed to big matchups.
Note: If you know of a former Big Country Prep athlete now performing in college or professional sports, contact Mike Lee at michaellee7@att.net.
Coy Eakin led Texas Tech in receiving and scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter last Saturday as the nationally ranked Red Raiders rallied past the Oregon State Beavers 35-24 in Corvallis, Oregon.
Eakin, a fifth-year receiver from Stephenville, caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Will Hammond that rallied Texas Tech to a 28-24 lead with 6:31 left in the game. The Red Raiders eventually won 35-24.
Nine Tech players caught passes last week, and the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Eakin led the Red Raiders in receiving with six catches for 79 yards.
Tech, 2-0 and ranked No. 13 in this week’s Associated Press poll, hosts No. 22 Houston (2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday — yes, Friday — on FOX.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Wednesday at 7 p.m. throughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches. If your team is missing, please give your coach a friendly reminder to check their email and submit their stats each week by 2 p.m. on Wednesdays.
TUSCOLA — Traveling to Jim Ned with at least a share of the District 5-3A lead on the line, the Wall volleyball team left Bill Thornton Arena with a big road win Tuesday night, digging out of an early hole to score a 23-25, 25-16, 25-14, 25-18 victory over the Lady Indians.
Taking advantage of a stellar defensive effort both at the net and on the back row, the Lady Hawks were dominant after the opening game, improving 20-4 overall and 2-0 in league play with the win.
The outcome puts WHS in a first-place tie with San Angelo TLCA (16-10, 2-0) — a half-match ahead of both Jim Ned (21-6, 2-1) and Clyde (14-11, 2-1).
With three weeks in the books, the area six-man picture continues to take shape. With a number of high-profile matchups last week, virtually all of which delivered, we were treated slate of games that was both entertaining and edifying.
If you’re a fan of competitive, well-played six-man games, you certainly got your money’s worth in Week 3.
As we do each week here at Big Country Preps, it’s time to take a look at the most compelling matchups and most outstanding individual performances in our “Six-Man Rewind” column. We hope you enjoy this look back at the week that was and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for more information on your favorite team(s).
It’s still too early to say, but 2026 could be the year of the quarterback in the Big Country. At least it has been that way through three weeks, with Clyde senior Devan Wright taking our latest Big Country Player of the Week award after another eye-popping performance from an area signal caller.
In the wake of Haskell’s Haegan Pinkerton winning our first two awards with two huge performances in Week 1 and Week 2, Wright followed those up with one of his own in a 57-21 win over Comanche on Friday.
Helping Clyde improve to 3-0, Wright connected on 12 of 18 throws for 194 yards and four scores. He also rushed nine times for 116 yards and three more TDs, giving him a direct hand in seven touchdowns.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 4:
Continue reading “WEEK 4 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
Odessa Permian 41, Abilene High 29 — The Eagles rallied from a 34-20 fourth-quarter deficit to pull within 34-29 with 3:19 to play, but Kayden Vickers hit Zephaniah Deleon with a 13-yard touchdown pass with 2:01 remaining to lift the Panthers to a hard-fought victory.
AHS, which turned the ball over on downs twice inside the Permian 25-yard line in the second half, was outgained just 426-407, getting big days from quarterback Tristan Beal (15-26-0—269, 4 TDs) and receiver John Rangel (9-204, 2 TDs). But the Eagles (1-2) fell behind 14-0 early in the second quarter and were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way.
Cooper 28, San Angelo Central 21 — Jamarion Dunson’s second rushing touchdown run of the second half broke a 21-all tie with just over two minutes remaining, serving as the winning points for the Cougars in a come-from-behind win over the Bobcats.
Cooper trailed at 7-0, 14-7 and 21-14 in the first half, before shutting Central out in the second half. The Bobcats had an opportunity to tie or take the lead in the final minutes, thanks to a long kickoff return that set them up inside the Cooper 30, but an incomplete pass on a fourth-down play allowed the Coogs (1-2) to celebrate their first victory of the season.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Ballinger-Early football (78 images)”
Crawford 39, Valley Mills 6 — The Pirates had no trouble with the Eagles, breezing to a comfortable win on homecoming.
The victory improved Crawford to 2-1 with a road game against winless Marlin slated for next week.
Bangs 51, Cross Plains 12 — Ryder Duncan passed for 195 yards and three touchdowns and added a fourth TD rushing to lead the Dragons to a blowout win over the Buffaloes.
Connor Bible just missed 100 yards rushing, finishing with 98 and a score on 15 carries, while Jayton Byler was Bangs’ leading receiver with two catches for 59 yards and a TD.
Munday 28, Roscoe 6 — The Moguls are officially off to one of their best starts in years at 3-0 and will face area rival Hamlin (2-1) next Friday in one of the area’s better matchups.
Roscoe has slipped to 0-3.
Forsan 48, Stanton 22 — Forsan rode an efficient offensive performance and a stellar special teams effort to a comfortable win over Stanton.
FHS (3-0) scored touchdowns on a kickoff return (54 yards by Korbett Worden), a punt return (75 yards by Cole Wyatt) and a fake field goal (33-yard double pass from Owen Bishop to Wyatt) while also getting 134 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, led by Worden with 98 yards and two scores.
Clyde 42, Breckenridge 18 — Devan Right threw for 197 yards and four scores and Harley Griffen rushed for 193 yards and another TD to keep Clyde unbeaten at 4-0. 
Merkel 47, Odessa Compass Academy 30 — Easton Malone threw for 190 yards and three scores and rushed 20 times for 139 yards and two more TDs as Merkel improved to 2-2.